Of Bumps, Breaks, and Trains
by SabbyStarlight
Summary: The team finds themselves on a mission on another train. It's supposed to be a simple job but things get a little more complicated when both Riley and Mac get hurt, leaving Jack to take care of both of them and the bad guys, on his own. New user name (formerly Future Mrs. Wayland) updated to match my Ao3 profile.


He heard the snap from across the room.

That tell-tale, nightmare haunting, sound that if you hear once, you will never forget. The sound of a breaking bone. It was a sound that Jack Dalton had heard a lot over the years, way more times than any normal person should ever have to experience the sound. It never failed to make him cringe though, no matter how many times he heard it. Never failed to send needles of ice dancing down his spine and form a pit in his stomach, knowing the pain that person was in on an all too personal level. It was a fact: Broken bones sucked. Unless you were one of the bad guys. In those situations Jack found himself smirking at their pain more often than he would like to admit. But hey, bad things happen to bad people.

This was not one of those times.

They were on a train (because that worked out so well the last time) intercepting a man transporting a computer virus across state lines on a flash drive. The mission was simple. Identify the man, stop the man, take the drive, come home. It should have been easy. But hey, trains.

The plan, lure the man into the least-occupied car, throw a few punches, take the drive, and babysit a handcuffed criminal for the rest of the ride, worked out fine until Jack started in on his favorite assignment: face punching. Turns out the man they were after wasn't working alone though, and as soon as Jack jumped him and Mac started digging through the pockets of his coat looking for the drive, the unknown man came after Mac with a metal pole he ripped from the armrest of his seat.

Mac barely had time to toss the flash drive to Riley, who was on the other side of the train car, quickly ushering concerned passengers out the door, before the piece of metal was slammed into the back of his head. The blonde man fell to the floor with a thud, cracking the front of his head on a seat on the way down.

That was all it took to make Jack mad enough to knock the man he was currently holding unconscious with one sharp right hook to the temple. He ignored the part of his brain that was yelling at him to check on Mac and took off across the car at a sprint, seeing that the man that had already taken down his partner now had his sight set on Riley.

He didn't make it in time. The man grabbed her arm, hand still firmly holding tight to the flash drive, and upon seeing that she wasn't planning on giving it up, drove his fist towards her face. All her training seemed to help as she dodged the worst of the blow, his fist connecting with her cheek instead of her eye. She still hadn't let go of the drive though, and knowing that he was out of time, the man resorted to slamming her arm against the side of the metal window pane. Hard.

Jack had come face to face with a lot of evil people in his life. Freaks, perverts, and just plain sickos were pretty common in his line of work. He hadn't known that the old saying "I was so mad, I saw red" was real though, until that moment. His vision did, in fact, take on a red tint as the rest of the train car faded away and all that remained was the man who had hurt not just Mac, but Riley too.

"What the HELL is wrong with you?" He screamed as he grabbed the man by his shoulders and slammed him up against the wall. "Your Mamma never teach you not to hit a girl?" He asked as he slammed his fist into the man's face with every other word.

The man seemed dazed enough that Jack refocused his priorities and looked away from him for a moment, eyes darting to where Riley sat against the wall of the cabin, clutching her arm to her chest, eyes tightly squeezed shut.

"I think," the man, who Jack still had pinned against the wall, smiled through the blood covering his face. "That I broke the poor thing's arm. Oops."

That was the final straw.

"Oh yeah?" Jack asked conversationally. "How's it feel?" And without giving it a second thought, he reached down, grabbed the man's wrist, and brought the arm down across his knee as if he were breaking kindling wood to start a campfire. The sound of this particular bone breaking was music to Jack's ears.

"Not smilin' about it now, huh?" Jack asked the man who was now writhing on the floor at his feet.

Later on, at the official debrief of the mission, Jack would say that he felt guilty for what he had done. Sure the Phoenix existed so that it's agents could do things that other organizations didn't have the clearance to do, but breaking the bones of someone you were sent to bring back in cuffs crossed even their lines. He would say that he regretted it the moment it happened and that he was sorry. It would proudly be the best lie he ever told.

"Now," Jack said as he grabbed the man by his shirt collar and began dragging him across the carpet floor. "You are gonna stay right here." He took a pair of handcuffs off his belt and fastened the man's remaining good arm to the leg of one of the seats. He hauled the other captured man, who was still unconscious, to the other side of the aisle and did the same to him, this time cuffing both his hands in a loop around the chair leg.

"Now I'm gonna go check on my partners. And you better hope and pray that they're alright. Cause anything that y'all did to them? It's gonna come right back around and happen to you two."

He gave the unconscious man a kick for good measure and then quickly headed over towards Mac, finding him still unconscious due to the two bumps on his head, each swollen and slightly bleeding, but his pulse strong, Jack left him to wake up on his own. All his focus shifting to Riley.

"Hey sweetheart." He said softly as he crouched down in front of her, his gentle hand on her shoulder causing her to flinch. "He gotcha pretty good, huh?"

"I'm fine." Riley insisted, though the tremble in her voice and watery eyes said otherwise.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're tough." Jack smiled. "Why don't I take a look at that arm anyway though, alright?"

Riley hesitantly drew her left arm away from her chest and held it out to Jack. He carefully took her elbow in one and her hand in the other, feeling her still fisted fingers slowly release and drop something into his palm. "I didn't let him take it." She said.

Jack opened his hand and looked down in disbelief at the tiny flash drive that had caused all these problems. "That's great, kiddo. You did good." He flashed a grin to the young woman in front of him. "And hey, you can move your hand, that's a good sign." He said, tucking the drive safely in his shirt pocket and turning his attention back to her arm.

His fingers, that not even ten minutes ago had snapped the bone of another man like a twig, ghosted feather light across her arm, checking for any external damage. Finding nothing but quickly darkening bruising, he looked up, his eyes meeting hers.

"Could've been worse." Jack declared.

"So it's not broken?" Riley asked hopefully.

"Now I didn't say that." Jack sighed. "Take a deep breath for me." He ordered and Riley followed automatically as his calloused hands pressed harder on her arm, checking for breaks. Feeling the shifting bones under her skin he let go, apologies falling from his lips as quickly as he could speak them. "Sorry darlin' but yeah, definitely broken." He said after giving her a moment to catch her breath.

Riley let her head fall back against the wall. "I figured." Jack reached up and silently brushed away a stray tear that had fallen down her bruised cheek. Before he could say anything else though, a low moan came from the middle of the train car.

"Is that Mac?" Riley asked anxiously.

"Yeah." Jack answered her as he turned his head, trying to see his partner without moving away from Riley. "Mac? Buddy, ya with me?" He called failing to get a clear visual on the younger man. "I'm right over here, pal."

"Go." Riley insisted, pushing on Jack's knee with her good hand. "Go check on him, I'm fine."

"You're not fine." Jack snapped back. "Your hurt."

"Yeah well there isn't anything else you can do about it at the moment. So go help Mac." She argued.

Jack sighed, eyes flicking between the young woman in front of him and the spot, just out of his line of sight where his partner was slowly regaining consciousness. Jack groaned, his heart calling him to be in two places at once.

"Jack. Go." Riley said, and the determination behind the pain in her eyes was enough to push him to standing. "You don't move." He called over his shoulder, as he turned and jogged to the middle of the train car where Mac layed, taking a second to look to the far end of the car where his two 'prisoners' were still handcuffed.

"Hey man, you with me?" He asked softly as he dropped to the floor beside his partner. Mac groaned in response. "Now I know you can hear my big mouth so just go ahead and wake up for me."

"Jack?" Mac asked slowly, reaching a trembling hand up towards his pounding head. Jack intercepted the hand easily before the blonde could go about poking his injuries and causing himself even more pain.

"You just stay still for a while." Jack said, giving the smaller man's hand a squeeze before setting it down gently on his chest. "You took a couple pretty hard hits back there."

"What happened?" Mac asked as he tried to open his eyes but shut them almost immediately as the light drove daggers into his aching head.

"Idiot wasn't working alone." Jack said, sending a glare to the still unconscious man cuffed to the seat leg. "His buddy got the drop on ya and then you, being the giant klutz that you are, knocked yourself in the head again on your way down." Jack smiled. "It would have been pretty comical if it hadn't been for the bad timing of it all."

"We get 'em?" Mac asked.

"Yup. Dumb and Dumber are not-so-happily restrained on the far end of the car over there and Ri got the drive. It's safe and sound right here." He patted the pocket of his shirt right over his heart.

"What's wrong?" Mac asked, sensing that something wasn't quite right.

Jack sent a glare down to the captive's end of the train car. "Asshat broke her arm."

Mac opened his eyes in surprise and then instantly regretted it. "She okay?" He asked through his own pain.

"Hurtin' but she'll be fine." Jack said, glancing back towards where he had left Riley. "Man, I can't wait till we're off this thing. No more missions on trains, ya hear me?"

"I hear you." Mac agreed.

"You feel up to movin' somewhere a little more comfortable than the floor?" Jack asked looking at the short distance to the nearest seat.

Mac sighed, his eyes still closed. "Help me up."

Jack moved behind Mac, thinking that if he pulled him up from under his arms the younger man could brace his head on Jack's chest to avoid moving any more than necessary. It was a pretty good idea, but the second Mac was halfway sitting up, let alone standing, his face turned a ghostly shade of white, then green.

Jack barely had time to flip his partner forward so he was kneeling before Mac started heaving up bile. "Easy…" Jack soothed as he held Mac up by his shoulders with one hand, the other rubbing soothing circles on his back. After a few seconds Mac blacked out from the pain but this time Jack was able to catch him before he faceplated into the floor again.

He woke a few moments later, head resting in Jack's lap, and temporarily forgetting about the pain, made the mistake of opening his eyes again. Jack wasn't sure if the groan he made was from the pain or seeing the small pile of sick on the floor beside them.

Choosing the latter option, Jack joked. " Hey don't worry about it pal. Maybe a little vomit will give them some motivation to clean these floors. Seriously. They're disgusting."

Mac cracked a small smile and Jack knew that he had done his job. "Alright. We're getting you into a nice comfy seat." Mac went to protests but Jack interrupted him. "You just hush. I didn't say it involved any movement on your part." And with that Jack had one hand behind Mac's knees and the other behind his shoulder blades and Jack was carrying him to a seat on the other side of the aisle.

He thought he had everything under control, Mac was conscious, even if his face was pressed into the crook of Jack's neck like a sleepy five year old being carried to bed, the flash drive was safe, and they would be bringing not just one criminal in off the streets, but two! Things were just starting to look up when Jack himself looked up and saw Riley attempting to stand up from her spot on the floor.

"Damnit." Jack hissed under his breath as he unceremoniously dropped Mac off in the closest seat, the movement causing the younger man's face to scrunch up in pain. "Sorry buddy," he said, gentle hand squeezing his shoulder in apology. "I'll be right back."

"What do you think you're doin'?" Jack asked as he ran towards Riley who was slowly pulling herself up with her good arm. "You sounded like you needed help." She explained once she got to her feet.

"I had everything under control." Jack argued. "Well I did until I had to worry about you falling and hurting yourself worse."

"I'm…"

"Fine. Yeah, yeah I know." Jack cut her off. "But you're hurt. Pretty bad. And don't take this the wrong way, but you're still new to this. You don't have the years of experience pushing through the pain that Mac and I do. So ya gotta take it easy. If for no other reason, do it because it'll make life a whole lot easier. Alright?"

She nodded.

"Good. Now let's go check on Mac, huh?" He said as he placed a gentle hand on her back and they carefully made their way to Mac's seat.

"You alright?" Mac asked once Riley was seated beside him, noticing the hitch in her breath from the jarring her arm had taken just from walking across the train car.

"I probably feel better than you look." Riley answered with a pained smile. "What did he hit you with, a club?"

"Part of his seat. A large, metal, part of his seat." Jack answered for his partner. "And then he konked himself on the forehead on ANOTHER seat on the way down."

Mac groaned, partially out of pain, partially because he knew he would never hear the end of this accident. "Alright, no more making fun of you 'till we're off this damn train." Jack promised. "Let me get a look atcha."

Mac winced despite how carefully Jack's fingers probed at each wound. "I think you got lucky, bud. You got some real big knots there but neither of 'em are gonna need stitched up." Jack said, kneeling down in front of the younger man. "Can you look here for me?"

Mac shook his head, just the tiniest movement back and forth, but the protest was loud and clear. "Too bright."

"I know, pal. I know. Just for a second?" Jack bargained.

"Jack you know I have a concussion. A pretty severe one based on how bad I'm feeling. Just let me suffer in peace?" Mac asked.

And because Jack couldn't stand to be the one to cause his friend any more pain he gave in. "Fine. But no sleepin' ya hear me?"

"Deal." Mac agreed.

"Alright Ri. Your turn." He turned towards the young woman who had her arm clutched tightly to her chest again. "Honest answer: how bad ya hurting?"

"I'll be fine, Jack." She said, trying to sit up straighter in her chair so she wouldn't appear as weak as she felt.

"I know you'll be fine. But I didn't ask that, now did I? I asked how bad you were hurtin' right this second." Jack countered.

"I don't know…" Riley started but Mac cut in. "One to ten? How bad?"

"That's not fair he didn't make you answer stupid questions." Riley protested.

"Yeah I learned a long time ago that askin' Mac that is a complete waste of time. Kid won't go above a six no matter how bad of shape he's in."

"Fine. Six." Riley answered with a glare. "Seriously Jack, yeah it hurts like hell but complaining about it isn't gonna do anyone any good."

"Eight." Mac answered back, his voice barely above a whisper. "She's at least at an eight."

"How'd you figure that?" Jack asked. "And hey, stay awake."

"Always add two." Mac said. "That's what I do when I ask you that. One for an abnormally high pain tolerance and one for sheer stubbornness." Mac grinned. " Figured Riley's the same."

"Shut up." Riley said, glaring daggers at the blonde beside her. " No way am I above a seven. And you don't get to participate in this conversation, you're hurting so bad you can't even open your eyes."

"Okay enough!" Jack practically yelled. "Geeze, kids! Sorry I asked."

"Shhh." Mac hissed through a wince. "Jack. Inside voice, please."

"Sorry." He automatically replied and lowered his voice. "Alright I need to go find a med kit somewhere on this thing." He glanced at the door to the next car and the two captured men, both now conscious, in front of it. "Riley, since Mac is a little, uh, useless, at the moment, I'm gonna have to leave you in charge of those two, alright?"

"Umm, I guess?" She answered uneasily, watching as Jack took his gun from its holster and put it in her good hand.

"I'll be right back." He promised as he stood up and began walking across the car before he changed his mind. "Don't worry. They'll behave." He said staring icily at the two men. "And if they don't, just aim for somethin' they'll miss. Your choice." Jack said with a wink as he closed the train car door behind him.

He returned, not even ten minutes later, with a huge medical kit in his arms. "They behave?" He asked as he set the box down on the floor between Mac and Riley.

"Yeah I think that was a pretty vivid threat." Riley said with a smile, handing Jack's gun back to him.

Jack threw her a grin as he turned his attention back to Mac. "You hangin' in there, kiddo? You're lookin' a little pale again."

"Just hurting." Mac answered.

"How 'bout you Ri?"

"Hurting. Yeah, sounds about right." She replied.

"Alright. Well good news is I talked to the man driving this here rig were on and he said we would be back home in a little under two hours. So I called HQ, told 'em to have a car at the station waiting on us and to send a couple officers over to take those two scumbags in," Jack pointed over his shoulder without even glancing in the direction of the prisoners. "That way I can take y'all straight to the hospital myself."

Riley started to speak but Jack cut her off. "I'm not finished. More good news. I called up to the hospital, talked to the doc that's workin' ER shift tonight, seems like an alright guy, and he has two beds on standby with your names on 'em."

"So what's the bad news?" Mac asked, picking up on Jack's overly positive attitude.

"Well the doc also said that y'all shouldn't have any meds or anything for the pain till he can check ya over himself." Jack admitted. "Said not to give you anything till you get that big brain of yours checked out in an MRI." He said looking at Mac. "And if Ri's arms gonna need surgery to reset they can't do it till she's gone six hours with no drugs."

"I don't need surgery." Riley insisted.

"Yeah well he's gonna take some x-rays to find out." Jack said, his tone making it clear that it arguing wasn't an option.

"So we wait." Mac said with a frown.

"We wait." Jack agreed. "There is a sling in here though, Riley." He said, opening the first aid kit. "Doc said if I could find one we should get it on ya to keep that arm as still as possible."

"You have to move her arm to get it in the sling though." Mac reminded him.

"Worth the risk."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not even here." Riley said, grimacing when she looked down at the sling in Jack's hands. "Get it over with."

"This is gonna hurt and I'm so sorry." Jack said, hating what he was about to do.

Riley just nodded her head and closed her eyes tight as Jack took hold of her arm. A second later she felt an odd weight on her leg, opening her eyes she found Mac's hand, open and waiting for her to squeeze.

She was extremely grateful for that hand as Jack started maneuvering her arm securely in the sling, opting for speed over coddling so he could get it over and done with. "There. Done." Jack finally announced, reaching up and adjusting the shoulder strap so it laid flat.

"Thanks." She breathed, giving Mac's hand another squeeze before letting go. "Well that was fun." She said as she forced a smile.

"Sorry." Jack apologized again, giving her knee a gentle pat as he kneeled back down to the medical kit. "That's the last time I hurt you tonight, promise. Now it's Mac's turn." He said, taking two packs of alcohol wipes from the box.

"Mac's turn?" Mac asked, turning his head slightly and forcing his eyes open just enough to see Jack.

"Two hours until we get to a hospital man, and you know how fast infection can set in. I'm not leaving whatever was on those nasty-ass chairs inside that pretty blonde head of your's. Gotta clean 'em." Jack explained.

"Fine." Mac agreed, knowing that if Riley had toughed through Jack moving around her broken arm he could handle a little rubbing alcohol.

"Little sting now," Jack warned before swiping the pad across the cut on Mac's forehead, hating how Mac winced against the burn, which just caused the bruising around the cut to hurt worse.

Riley reached out her good hand, but knowing that Mac would be too stubborn to squeeze the offered lifeline, she rested it on his forearm, thumb moving back and forth in slow circles. If she couldn't offer him some comfort through the pain she was at least going to give him something else to anchor his thoughts to.

"Alright, halfway there." Jack said as he moved around to the back of Mac's seat, not wanting to make his partner move any more than necessary. He parted Mac's hair as carefully as he could around the cut before quietly warning, "Second verse, same as the first."

"A little bit louder and a whole lot worse." Mac hissed back through the stinging pain.

"Yeah but now we're done." Jack promised, clapping Mac on the shoulder as he made his way back to the seats facing Mac and Riley.

"Is there anything I can get either of ya?" Jack asked, not sure what he was supposed to do next.

"A nap." Mac answered immediately.

"I meant like a water or somethin' to eat." Jack replied.

Mac visually paled at the mention of food and Riley shook her head no.

"I just wanna get home" Riley said as she shifted in her seat, trying to find a comfortable position.

"Well you, you can sleep the rest of the way." Jack told her. "You don't have a life threatening head injury."

"Awesome." Riley agreed as she turned sideways in her chair and threw her legs across Mac's lap.

"Come on, man. "Please? Just let me rest for a little while?" Mac begged. "My head is pounding."

"Mac…" Jack started but he made the mistake of looking at the pain filled, puppy-dog eyes his partner was struggling to open and he caved. "Fine. But I'm waking you up every twenty minutes, ya hear me?"

"Thanks." Mac said as he settled as far back into his seat as he could without bumping the wound on the back of his head. Resting an arm across Riley's legs on his lap Mac smiled and raised his own legs, which were just long enough to reach across the space between his chair and the one Jack was sitting in infrnt of him, propping his feet up on Jack's knees.

Jack chuckled at his partner and for the first time since they started the mission he felt like he could breathe again. "I'll tell you two something." He said before Riley and Mac fell asleep. "You're not allowed to do this again."

"What, get hurt?" Riley asked, cracking open an eye and looking over at Jack.

"No, as much as I don't like it I've come to accept that people are gonna get hurt doin' a job like this. But the two of you are never, and I do mean NEVER, allowed to get hurt at the same time again." Jack ordered.

Mac cracked a small smile. "Too much work for you, old man?"

"Damn right it is! I'm pretty sure I got like, four grey hairs from dealin' with you two and the ride isn't even over yet." Jack said, raking a hand over his hair.

"Okay, shut up." Riley said. "Mac and I are sleeping. We can argue about your grey hairs later."

"Alright," Jack smiled. "You two go to sleep. I'll be right here."

"Always are." Mac whispered as he finally drifted off.

"Always will be." Jack promised.

 **You ever just have a bad day and need to take it out on your favorite characters? Well sometimes I do. ;) I swear this started out as a simple little 'Riley breaks her arm on a mission' fic. But then I thought "Well let's just go ahead and hurt Mac too. Jack can take care of both of them, that could be fun." And this was born. Not sure what it is about this one but I really like it lol. I'm normally pretty unsure about my fics (despite how super kind everyone is in their reviews) but I just enjoyed this one. Hope y'all do too.**


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